"NHS Test and Trace call handlers spent just one per cent of their time working in a bid to avert a lockdown, a damning report has found.
Some 18,000 call handlers were employed in May and £22 billion spent but much of that was frittered without proper scrutiny, the spending watchdog says.
The National Audit Office has found call handlers’ “utilisation rate” was just one per cent as the much of the money – equivalent to a fifth of the NHS budget – was spent away on outsourced providers.
Its highly critical findings come after it was reported contact tracers were "sitting around watching Netflix".
Auditors found that in the early months, clinical staff on the NHS Test and Trace programme weren’t that busier either, spending just four per cent of their time working.
After facing criticism, the Government cut call handlers 18,000 to 12,000 and moved remaining ones to help local authorities track down outbreaks to make the service more effective in local areas.
One contact tracer said she was paid £4,500 to sit at home, where she has streamed shows such as Breaking Bad, Below Deck and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
The woman –-who was signed up in May by Sitel - said: “I haven’t made a single call. I’ve been using the time to job hunt and watch Netflix."
Source of information here
More life affirming information coming soon.
Eddie
It is so uncalled for. I long for sanity in government.
ReplyDeleteShocking! Valerie
ReplyDeleteThe real lunacy was thinking you could do contact tracing on an illness so contagious that people have caught it in quarantine...that it doesn't spread at riots or left-wing protests...that it doesn't spread at Costco...that celebrities and politicians won't get it by going out for dinners and haircuts...that cotton masks can block something as tiny as a virus...lots of insanity to go around.
ReplyDeleteCraziness ... pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteand...??? this does not shock me one bit. there is so much of this going on in every element of government, why not here!!!
ReplyDeletei'm glad you shared it...but is there anything we can do about it!?!?! probably not!!!
Even google and blogger are crazy making right now ~ Be safe, be well.
ReplyDeleteLive with love each moment,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
I've been reading about people who took all the right precautions and still caught the virus. They STILL have no idea where they let the virus in their home, since they never go anywhere. So sad how these workers wasted so much money. I'm sure it's true in the states, too, at least where contact tracing is available.
ReplyDeleteThis is an absolute disgrace, but am I surprised - not at all! Have a great weekend you two xx
ReplyDelete...outsourcing makes the world turn.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing--here in the states covid has become a power grabbing device- and I agree these cotton masks do nothing in my opinion
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of money has been ill spent, and really it'a a matter of staying away from others when you are Sick. I had it I wore a mask and still got the virus,,,but I DIDN'T pretend like Trump did that is was nothing and I could immediately resume my normal life I stayed locked in my home for 16 days after the fever hit me. People who are sick should GO HOME and stay there.
ReplyDeleteThis does not surprise me in the least. The corruption is world wide and unless some watchdog group is looking over EVERYONE's shoulder it will continue. Here in the states our government is so corrupt and beholding to big business that nothing gets done and, well you have seen our covid numbers.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information, Eddie
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't they make calls, nobody given to them to call I expecte is the answer. The government is due a refund on those wages.
This is some really good information and it is also very interesting. It is good of you to share this with us, thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteWishing you well! Stay Safe, my friend!
truly amazing.
ReplyDeleteDon't matter what program of gov't assist is going to have, someone is going to milk it for it all is worth. But I think most people are honest and want to do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteStay Safe and Coffee is on
They act here in Germany as if that virus just popped up NOW.
ReplyDeleteThey still have no idea what to do, or do they. They destroy economy so big.
It´s a virus, what was it with SARS, big panic, but not as big, oh, one could discuss this endlessly...
Good grief, that isn't good at all.
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing has been an opportunity for wealth transfer, a money making scamdemic.
ReplyDeleteHi Eddie, Wow, this post is amazing. I am going to guess that similar irregularities are going on here in the USA. Isn’t it a comment on humanity how people will take advantage of help given by the community designed to take care of them, aka government. In the UK the contact tracers were expected to return something to the community by actually trying to slow the spread of the virus. Instead, they just take the money and enjoy themselves. Here in the USA “stimulus checks” were sent out to help folks make it through the pandemic. The reality is that much of the money went to those who did not need it. And here, to make it worse, the money that went out … we didn’t have it to begin with. It was “deficit” spending. Money created by the Treasury simply by digital means. Anyway, thanks for an interesting post. Have a fine weekend! John
ReplyDeletesounds like you are in as bad a shape as we are. Contact tracers watching Netflix? That's just plain wrong.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry. Phil Slade said it perfectly, "Scamdemic".
ReplyDeletePopulations of people have no sense of responsibility ~ sigh.
ReplyDeleteLive each moment with love,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
All very strange. I wonder how they spent the 22 billion.
ReplyDeleteJust another example of government wasting the worker's money...whether here or there.
ReplyDeleteBuen día.
ReplyDeleteCrazy!!!!!
ReplyDelete